Article selection and separation apparatus

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for selecting and separating articles, such as blanks, comprising article selection means intended to bear upon the edge of essentially vertically arranged articles in such a manner that during displacement of a stream of such articles in such a manner that during displacement of a stream of such articles the article selection means successively follows or moves over each article edge. A separator or knife is located transverse to the articles with respect to the direction of flow of the stream of articles. This separator or knife is intended to bear upon the selection means and serves to penetrate between two successive articles without coming into contact with both of these articles at the beginning of its penetration between two such articles. There is also provided means for adjusting the pressure exerted by the selection means upon the edge of the articles.

United States Patent [1 1 Preisig et al.

[111 3,826,348 [451 July 30, 1974 Inventors: Roland Preisig, Yens; Arthur F rei,

St. Sulpice, both of Switzerland Assignee: J. Bobst & Fils SA, Prilly,

Switzerland Filed: Sept. 12, 1972 Appl. No.: 285,841

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 17. 1971 Switzerland 13619/71 US. Cl 198/34, 214/85 SS Int. Cl. 865g 47/26, 865g 59/00 Field of Search 2l4/8.5 SS, 7; 198/34; 93/93 R 93 M, 93 C, 93 D, 93 K, 93 DP, 93

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1964 Luginbuhl 214/7 X 8/1972 Kramer ct a1 214/85 SS Primary Examiner-Even C. Blunk Assistant ExaminerJames W. Miller Attorney, Agent, or FirmHill, Gross, Simpson, Van Santen, Steadman, Chiara & Simpson [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus for selecting and separating articles, such as blanks, comprising article selection means intended to bear upon the edge of essentially vertically arranged articles in such a manner that during displacement of a stream of such articles in such a manner that during displacement of a stream of such articles the article selection means successively follows or moves over each article edge. A separator or knife is located transverse to the articles with respect to the direction of flow of the stream of articles. This separator-or knife is intended to bear upon the selection means and serves to penetrate between two successive articles without coming into contact with both of these articles at the beginning of its penetration between two such articles. There is also provided means for adjusting the pressure exerted by the selection means upon the edge of the articles.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENH-Immaman SHEET t UF '5 ARTICLE SELECTION AND SEPARATION APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION boxes which move along one of their edges in a tight or compact stream.

There are already known to the art devices wherein Y separation of the compact stream of folded together boxes is carried out by means of a knife of suitable shape. This knife penetrates between two successive boxes of a stream of boxes which is in motion. One of the drawbacks of the known constructions resides in the difficulties which are present, owing to defects in the stream of moving boxes, in introducing the knife in a faultless manner between two boxes without the danger of the knife impinging upon the edge of a box and damaging or destroying such box. Another drawback can be observed from the fact that if it is desired to separate the boxes exactly, for instancebetween the nth and the n+1 box, there is no guarantee that the knife will penetrate exactly at the selected location, since the point of separation is dependent upon factors such as the speed of movement of the stream of boxes and the thickness of the boxes. Only the displacementof the knife can be controlled relatively easily.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Hence it should be apparent from what has been dis-' cussed above that this particular field of technology is still in need of apparatus for selecting and separating articles, particularly blanks or the like, in a manner which is not associated with the aforementioned drawbacks and limitations of the prior art constructions. Therefore it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved construction of apparatus of the aforementioned type which effectively and reliably fulfills the existing need in the art.

Another object of the present invention relates to an improved construction of apparatus for the selection and separation of articles wherein there is overcome the danger that the separator or knife will penetrate at a location other than between two articles of the stream of articles and which apparatus enables carrying out the exact introduction of the separator or knife in 'a faultless and positive manner.

Still a further significant object of the present invention relates to an improved apparatus for the selection and separation of articles, particularly blanks or the like, in a positive and reliable manner, without damaging the articles moving through the equipment, wherein the equipment itself is of relatively simple construction and design, extremely reliable in operation, requires a minimum' of servicing and maintenance, and is not readily subject to breakdown.

Now, in order to implement these and still further objects of the invention, which will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, the inventive apparatus is generally manifested by the features that the selection means is intended to bear upon the edge of vertically arranged articles, e.g., blanks, in such a manner that during displacement of a stream of articles such selection means successively follows each article edge. There is also provided a separator or knife located in a plane substantially perpendicular with respect to the direction of movement of the articles, this knife bearing upon the selection means and being intended by means of a control command to penetrate between two successive articles without coming into contact with both articles, at the beginning of its penetration movement between such two articles; There, is also provided means for adjusting the pressure exerted by the selection means upon the edge of the articles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above, will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view, partially in cross-section, of an exemplary embodiment of inventive apparatus,

- FIG. '2 illustrates certain components of the apparatus of FIG. 1 in apreselection position; a

FIG. 3 illustrates the apparatus of FIG. 1 during the first phase of separation;

FIG. 4 illustrates the position of the apparatus of FIG. 1 during the start of the phase of penetration of the knife between two boxes; and

FIG. 5 illustrates the position of the components of the apparatus during complete separation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS I I altering the feed or advance resistance'of the aforementioned carriage 5. This control permits correcting the pressure at the stream of boxes 3. Upper guide means 6 arranged side by side prevent the boxes forming the stream of articles from vertically shifting or becoming offset relative to one another. The upper guide means or guides 6 are applied in such a manner that they are displaceable upon a shaft 7 extending transverse to the article direction of flow indicated by arrow 4. After properly positionally adjusting the guide means 6 as desired, they can be arrested in such desired position by means of bolts or headscrews 8 or equivalent means. I

A transverse extending shaft 10 is vertically displaceable in the direction of the double headed arrow 10a in order to be ableto adjust the pressure exerted by an article selector 9 in the form of a flexible blade 9a upon the edge of the boxes 3 or otherwise forming the stream of articles. An article separator or knife 12 cooperating with the article selector 9, and whichseparator 12 consists of a body member 13 at which there is secured a resilient or spring blade 14, is actuated by means of a suitable control, herefor instance in the form of a pneumatic piston 15 displaceable in cylinder l5a. Th e piston 15 is controlled as a function of the position of the carraige or wagon. or the number of boxes which have passed beneath the selector 9.

FIG. 2 illustrates the apparatus of FIG. 1 in its article 7 pre-selection position. The boxes 3 are displaced in the direction of the arrow 4. The selector 9 continuously wipes across the'upper portion 16 of the stream of boxes, so that it successively follows the outer line of the edge of each box 3.

\ FIG. 3 illustrates the equipment in the first phase of the article separation operation. The resilient blade 14 of the separator 12 has been displaced by the control 15, 15a so that it now bears'upon the flexed end portion or end 17 of the selector9. The resilient or flexible blade 14 which is preferably dull or blunt of separator vl2 will be seen to incorporate an end portion or end 18 which possesses an inclination which is preferably simithe separator 12 between the two boxes 3. The inclined or flexed end portion 18 of the separator 12 continues its travel in that it downwardlypresses the inclined or flexed end portion 17 of the selector, resulting in bending or bowing towards the left the box 19 and thus forming an entrance or opening 21 which renders possible the easy and faultless introduction of the separator 12 between the boxes 19 and 20.

FIG. 5 illustrates the complete separation. During the time that the separator 12 has carried out its downward travel it hasbeen introduced between two successive boxes, and thus completes the'separation of the stream of boxes.

The equipment under discussion of course operates in a continuous manner. The previously described operating phases have been given for the purpose of facilitating the "explanation of the mode of operation, but however in reality are not separated, that is to say, there is no dead time between two successive phases and that the means located to the left of the separator or knife 12 and entraining the stream of boxes 3 is never placed out of operation. As soon as separation 4 has been carried out and after processing the boxes located at the right of the separator 12, the latter again returns back into its starting position, so that the selector 9 again can follow the outer line of the edges of the boxes '3 until the next separation operation. j

While there'is shown and described present preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.

Accordingly, what is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for selecting and separating articles, I

especially blanks, comprising means for conveying the articles in a predetermined direction of travel, a flexible thin resilient blade biased against the stack at all I times and having a downwardly inclined .portion mounted so that one end bears upon theedges of the moving articles which are essentially vertically arranged in such a manner that said blade follows the article edges-during displacement of a stream of said articles, a separator mounted for movement in-a plane substantially perpendicular to the direction of flow of said articles and movable to a position engageable with said one end of said flexible blade to cause said flexible blade to move between two successive articles without injuring either of said articles'at initiationand during penetration between said two articles and so as to create a temporary gap in the stack which allows the separator to penetrate between two successive articles with-' out injury to their edges, and means for adjusting thepressure exerted by said flexible blade upon the edges of said articles.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1,,wherein said end of said flexible blade makes an angle of .less than with a plane defined by the tops of said articles.

3. The apparatus of claim I, wherein said separator comprises a generally flat body member and a thin flexble blade to force it between successive articles. 

1. An apparatus for selecting and separating articles, especially blanks, comprising means for conveying the articles in a predetermined direction of travel, a flexible thin resilient blade biased against the stack at all times and having a downwardly inclined portion mounted so that one end bears upon the edges of the moving articles which are essentially vertically arranged in such a manner that said blade follows the article edges during displacement of a stream of said articles, a separator mounted for movement in a plane substantially perpendicular to the direction of flow of said articles and movable to a position engageable with said one end of said flexible blade to cause said flexible blade to move between two successive articles without injuring either of said articles at initiation and during penetration bEtween said two articles and so as to create a temporary gap in the stack which allows the separator to penetrate between two successive articles without injury to their edges, and means for adjusting the pressure exerted by said flexible blade upon the edges of said articles.
 2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said end of said flexible blade makes an angle of less than 90* with a plane defined by the tops of said articles.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said separator comprises a generally flat body member and a thin flexible member attached to said body member and extending downwardly therefrom so as to engage said downwardly inclined portion of said flexible blade.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the lower end of said thin flexible member is blunt.
 5. The apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said flexible blade has an inclined end portion, said downwardly inclined end portion of said blade and said lower end portion of said thin flexible member are substantially parallel, and wherein said lower end of said thin flexible member engages said one end of said flexible blade to force it between successive articles. 